Tag Archives: cancer treatment

Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center will open the second phase of its outpatient facility on April 1, a major addition which will greatly expand specialty cancer treatment services and prevention programs in Arizona.

The Cox Center, established through a $5 million grant from The James M. Cox Foundation, will provide preventative health consultations for patients to determine their risk for cancer. Medical experts also will offer integrative health consults for patients undergoing cancer treatment as well as cancer survivors. The center will feature services to assist patients during their cancer journeys, such as acupuncture, massage, exercise, nutrition programs and counseling.

“Expansion of our cancer services will allow us to continue advancing the level of cancer care in Arizona through multidisciplinary treatment and access to cutting-edge research,” said Dr. Edgardo Rivera, medical director of Banner MD Anderson. “These expansion projects are more than just adding rooms, space and equipment. Our team approach ensures each patient receives a comprehensive plan of care for his or her individual diagnosis.”

For radiation oncology, the expansion adds two new linear accelerators to the current three. These advanced radiation devices are used to treat a broad spectrum of tumors throughout the body, while enabling treatment of highly complex cancers that require extreme targeting precision. The new machines are housed in rooms with patient amenities such as ceiling-mounted video screens, featuring a variety of relaxing nature scenes patients can choose to watch during their treatments.
Patients undergoing treatment for blood cancers will receive care in the new stem cell transplant/hematology clinic, located on the third floor. This clinic will care for patients with a variety of blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and many more, as well as stem cell transplant patients.

Additional infusion treatment areas will provide more space for patients receiving chemotherapy and other intravenous treatments.

Thirty additional clinic rooms will expand the capacity of the Multidisciplinary Clinic. Physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and additional care providers see patients in this clinic, which is usually divided by disease type.

Banner MD Anderson will hold a free “Power of Prevention” community event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., March 22 at the facility, 2946 E. Banner Gateway Drive. This will include tours of the new Cox Center and additional treatment areas. Learn more about the event at www.BannerMDAnderson.com/events.

Arizona Center for Cancer Care (AZCCC), a multispecialty group of Arizona’s most recognizable names in cancer treatment and technology, has announced that it has officially opened at Scottsdale Healthcare’s Osborn Medical Center location.

“We are pleased to welcome AZCCC to the Osborn Medical Center location and look forward to continuing to work together to provide exceptional oncology care at both of our Scottsdale Healthcare facilities,” said Lindsay Thomas, director of oncology for Scottsdale Healthcare.

Earlier this year AZCCC opened a facility at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare’s Shea Medical Center location, allowing doctors to accommodate an increased volume of patients and bring leading-edge cancer care technology to Scottsdale Healthcare.

The facility is an outpatient single story building at 337 E. 2nd St. on Scottsdale Healthcare’s Osborn Campus.

“The goal was to bring the best physicians together to offer the best comprehensive care to patients,” said Thomas. “Both the Scottsdale Healthcare Shea and Osborn Centers share a commitment to clinical excellence and our partnership with AZCCC has enabled us to broaden our services in this region.”

Aside from additional exam and procedure rooms, the now complete facility renovations include:
* The addition of state-of-the-art radiation therapy services such as RapidArc Sterotactic Radiosurgery, which will allow for short courses of pin-pointed radiation
* The installation of a new iX Linear Accelerator manufactured by Varian, the industry leader in radiation equipment, capable of delivering precision Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy

“Radiation therapy technologies such as IMRT/ IGRT and Radiosurgery help deliver higher doses of radiation to tumors with fewer complications and less immediate and long-term side effects,” said Dr. Diane C. Racine, a partner at AZCCC and member of the Scottsdale Healthcare medical staff.

Dr. Racine has been providing services at the AZCCC Virginia G. Piper location, but will soon bring her services and expertise to the new facility at the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center. In addition to her current role, Racine practiced at and served as director of residency programs for the Department of Radiation Oncology at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and has both taught radiation oncology courses at the University of Chicago and served as assistant professor of radiation oncology at Rush Medical College.

Joining Racine at the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center will be fellow radiation oncologist Dr. Luci Chen. . Chen also brings experience from her time as clinical director of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital and as assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Chicago. She has also been awarded a Fellowship by the American Cancer Society for her clinical research in cancer care.

“With a coordinated multidisciplinary approach to radiation therapy now available through both Scottsdale Healthcare locations, patients will have the best chance for achieving optimal treatment results with the added convenience of the two local centers,” said Chen.

“The word ‘cancer’ is actually the general name given to some 100-plus diseases from breast to lung to skin cancer, and is when cells in a specific part of the body begin to grow out of control,” said Dr. Daniel Reed, co-founder of Arizona Center for Cancer Care (AZCCC) in Peoria.

While the word itself may be general, those fighting its 100-plus diseases are anything but.

“No two cancer patients are alike – and no two patients’ treatment should be either,” said Dr. Reed, who understands this firsthand as his grandmother fought breast cancer while he was in medical school, inspiring him to go into the field.

Depending on a patient’s needs, he/she may require cancer treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or a combination of both. If being treated with a combination, West Valley patients were often required to go to different cancer centers throughout the Northeast and Southeast Valley – sometimes hours away – for regular care. Unsatisfied with West Valley patients’ access to nearby facilities and support services, Dr. Reed partnered with fellow specialists Drs. Christopher Biggs and Terry Lee in 2008 to launch Arizona Center for Cancer Care in Peoria. Their mission, simply put, was to become the future of cancer treatment in Arizona.

“Our multi-specialty treatment center was designed to give us the ability to offer comprehensive cancer care to patients on this side of town – something never done before in this community,” said Dr. Reed.

Upon launching the facility, the group quickly became the first of its kind to offer West Valley patients Brachytherapy, which is an effective, less-invasive treatment for prostate, breast, lung, esophageal, gynecologic and head/neck cancers, among others. They also became the first to invest in and offer Radiosurgery to the area using a state-of-the-art technology called RapidArc® radiation therapy.

“This very precise form of therapeutic radiation uses beams of radiation to treat cancerous tissues without a surgical incision or opening, allows patients to receive treatment in as little as 10 minutes, compared to the several hours it used to take with older technologies like the cyber knife and gamma knife,” said Dr. Reed.

In 2008 the radiation oncologist and team realized they were ready to expand and partnered with prominent medical oncologist Dr. Devinder Singh and his practice, Arizona Center for Hematology and Oncology, increasing the practice to 10 physicians and the West Valley’s first comprehensive cancer practice. By 2011, when the Peoria center became Arizona’s only freestanding radiation oncology facility to earn The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™ for accreditation, they had also added gynecological cancer treatment to their growing list of patient services, another first for the West Valley.

Over the past year, two major events have happened:
First, it partnered with Arizona Breast Cancer Specialists (ABCS) and Arizona Radiation Oncology Specialists (AROS) to expand into the Scottsdale and Southeast Valley markets.
Then, thanks in part to relationships with ABCS and AROS, the group joined together to enter into a long-term relationship with Scottsdale Healthcare, wherein AZCCC is now overseeing the Piper Center’s ENTIRE radiation oncology wing and beyond.

Today, the practice in total now boasts 52 physicians, more than 200 employees and 20 partner offices Valleywide as a result.

“We are a cancer center without walls whose services stretch into every inch of this community, offering the West Valley with the best doctors, best treatment technologies and best research in the country,” says Dr. Reed. “Cancer is a disease of survivors – and we want to keep it that way.”

Dr. Coral Quiet is anything but … quiet, that is. This busy mother of two has been one of the loudest voices in Arizona’s war against breast cancer for more than two decades.

“When I moved to Arizona in the early-1990s, I was horrified to learn that not only were there ZERO breast cancer-only specialists, but that nearly 80 percent of breast cancer patients in Arizona were being treated with mastectomies, a number exponentially higher than the national average,” said Quiet.

A mastectomy, which is the complete surgical removal of the breast and necessary in aggressive cases, is disfiguring to a woman.

Determined to make a difference, Quiet began focusing her care here in the Valley solely on breast cancer treatment, research and education. While touching the lives of women one-at-a- time was making a difference, by the late 1990s she wanted to do more.

So, in 1998, she co-founded the Arizona Institute for Breast Health with Dr. Belinda Barclay-White, which offers women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer a second opinion, free of charge.

Quiet tirelessly works to bring a volunteer team of physicians and medical professionals whose specialties include breast radiology, breast surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, reconstructive surgery, and breast pathology into one room each week to evaluate the best medical and surgical options for the preservation of a woman’s life, body and emotional well-being.

But she didn’t stop there.

In 1999, Quiet attended an international breast cancer conference and had the chance to meet Dr. Robert Kuske, who was presenting early results of his new treatment for breast cancer called Brachytherapy, an accelerated five-day treatment for selected patients with early stage breast cancer that treats a much smaller volume of breast and other tissues and avoids treating the breast skin with radiation.

Never one to bother with “Quiet” time, she not only introduced brachytherapy in Arizona in the early 2000s, but she eventually convinced Kuske to come and practice in Arizona as well.

Over the next several years, she helped to pioneer the Mammosite catheter for FDA studies and pioneered a new device, SAVI, which is able to treat many more women with early stage breast cancer while avoiding high doses of radiation to skin and ribs. She also took time out to act as a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society, lecturing and volunteering for the organization where she could.

As the number of women getting mastectomies declined, and those choosing body and breast-conserving treatments like brachytherapy and SAVI skyrocketed, Dr. Quiet decided to make even more noise.

Determined to provide the same level of customized care to non-breast cancer patients, Quiet and Kuske also developed a secondary practice, Arizona Radiation Oncology Specialists, with the goal of partnering cancer experts statewide with cutting-edge cancer technologies to maximize patient care. With the help of new partners, they have opened three Arizona Radiation Oncology Specialists centers in the past three years, while investing in technologies new to the Southwest.

“I’ll get my quiet time when I’m dead,” said Dr. Quiet. “Today, the fight continues in the war against cancer – a war we will win.”